Firefighters Get an Upper Hand on Wildfires

Although conditions have swung in the favor of firefighters in Southern California, officials report that it will be a few more days before they will likely have control of several blazes that have destroyed or damaged more than 800 homes in the greater Los Angeles area.

Blazes have roared from Santa Barbara to Anaheim since Thursday, as high temperatures, high winds, low humidity and dry conditions have made for a deadly mix. To date, some 35,000 acres of land have been scorched.

The worst losses have been in the Sylmar area where hundreds of homes were lost in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park.

The largest of three fires, the Freeway Complex fire, had scorched approximately 24,000 acres in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties. Most of the damage was in Orange County in the suburbs of Anaheim and Yorba Linda, with more than 100 homes reportedly destroyed.

Finally, the Tea fire in the Santa Barbara area destroyed more than 100 homes. Officials reported it was 80 percent contained as of Monday morning.